an explosion at a fertilizer plant in central texas destroyed part of a town. it killed at least 5 people and injured more than 160 others. north korean leaders have set some ground rules for returning to the negotiating table, but they're not in line with what their counterparts in south korea and u.s. are demanding. and he is perhaps less famous than oskar schindler. still, israelis are working to

preserve the memory of the japanese diplomat who save ed thousands of jews from the holocaust. welcome to nhk world "newsline." residents of a small town in the u.s. state of texas are reeling following a powerful explosion at a fertilizer plant. the blast blew up homes and buildings. police say it killed between 5 and 15 people and injured more than 160. they're investigating if it was an accident or a crime. the explosion happened in the town of west in central texas. it caused an earth tremor that people reported feeling in the city of dallas more than 100 kilometers away. more than 50 buildings including a nursing home collapsed or were badly damaged. several firefighters are reported missing. >> the casualty numbers, i don't have a hard number to give to

you at this point. they are still working on that. i can tell you that it is estimated anywhere from 5 to 15 at this point. police say firefighters cannot approach for fear of toxic fumes. about half of the town's population have evacuated their homes. u.s. officials have released no in information on the progress of their investigation, but some media are reporting about a possible smt. monday's twin explosions near the marathon finish line killed 3 people and injured 170 others. on wednesday nbc television quoted sources in the investigation saying a young man, about 180 centimeters tall, wearing a white cap, was acting suspiciously near the scene of the explosions. cbs television also said a young man left a black bag at the scene and then fled just before the explosions.

investigators postponed a scheduled news conference that made it difficult to verify the media reports. boston university has announced that one of the three victims was lu lingzi from china, a graduate student in mathematics and statistics. president barack obama will visit boston on thursday for a memorial service for the victims. north korean leaders have set out conditions for resuming talks with diplomats from the u.s. and south korea. they say u.s. and south korean forces must stop joint military exercises, and the u.n. security council must withdraw sanctions. u.s. secretary of state john kerry said last week that american diplomats are ready to talk if the north koreans move to drop their nuclear program. members of north korea's national defense commission said the proposal was unacceptable. they called on the security counsel to retract economic

penalties imposed after the country's latest missile launch and nuclear tests and demanded that u.s. and south korean commanders suspend military exercises currently under way in the south. the commission members also said the military forces and the people of north korea are closely watching what steps the u.s. and its followers will take. the remark suggests that there is still room for dialogue with the u.s. and south korea. south korea's foreign minister is playing go between in an effort to keep an annual summit with japan and china on the calendar. yun byung-se in seoul says he will also raise the north korea issue. officials have been preparing to host the summit in late may. a diplomatic source saying young is expected to meet the other foreign ministers. the source says yung will try to

convince the two ministers to proceed with the talks as planned. they believe it's too early to hold a summit because leaders of all three countries assumed office only recently. analysts say the chinese are unhappy about a territorial dispute with japan in the east china sea. japan controls the senkaku islands. china and taiwan claim them. government officials in beijing have accused japan of making trouble over the islands which the chinese called dialou. a new defense ministry white paper refers to territorial disputes and other pacific region but japan is to only country singled out by name. the report says china's military must protect the country's sovereignty and marine interests. it also says naval fleets will develop their ability to carry out mobile operations.

chinese warships were in the waters as reportedly part of an exercise. the document is the first defense white paper published since president xi jinping took office. a former navy captain gave us his take on where this new policy is headed under this new generation of leaders. >> the new leaders idea, of course, so they change the structure completely. the feature of the paper must be specific. they criticized japan as making trouble on the issue around the senkaku islands and criticized the united states to adjust their policy in asia-pacific. they introduced the army structure in the second chapter and also the number of soldier,

but it's also part of the autobio and they mentioned about the main three roles which are expected to realize by pla. the first one is the defending the sovereignty and security and the territory. and the second one is to guarantee the economic and society development. and the third one is making their contribution to war and peace. but they are always emphasis the world of peace through development. but they also show us the threatening military forces. the keyword is the mobile operation and one other is the strengthening the command and control. so they've already conducted navy exercise long distance around the senkaku islands and

also in the west pacific. so we have to keep watching on the real operation even though they are emphasis on peaceful development. japan is not the only country watching as china's military expands in asia. leaders are keenly aware of what's happening in the region, and they're expanding too. they're sending new combat ships to singapore all equipped with advanced radar systems. one just arrived. >> reporter: the uss freedom is also known as a combat ship that is designed to operate in shallow waters close to shore making it effective where other combat ships cannot engage. the ship measures 118 meters long by 70 meters wide, and it can accelerate to more than 70

kilometers per hour in two minutes. it's capable of switching between combat, mine sweeping, and anti-submarine operations. they are scheduled to travel to guam and several countries to guard waters in the region. >> mainly our navy is focused more in the blue water area, further out to sea. and we have been able to operate close into land. >> the vessels are equipped with advanced radar systems. they can also share information with other ships and submarines. the ships are capable of carryi carrying helicopters and high-speedboats. it is a great pleasure for me to welcome -- >> in a meeting earlier this

month in washington, u.s. president barack obama expressed appreciation for their cooperation and deployment of the vessels. president obama is focused on a new strategy in the asia-pacific region. singapore is a politically important location. this first deployment of the u.s. fleet here is a symbolic gesture of america's foreign defense strategy. pakistan's high court has arrested musharraf. he returned last month from self imposed exile hoping to make a come back in politics.

musharraf faced a defeat five years ago. he lived in exile since 2009. pakistani law enforcement authorities issued a warrant for him in 2011. they accused him of failing to provide adequate security for former prime minister buto. the high court and the capital islamabad have suspended the warrant while musharraf attem attempted to fight the accusations. he is living at his home in islamabad, and the election board refused to accept his candida candidacy. reports suggest next week's eu meeting of foreign ministers in luxonborg will see blocks --

most were suspended in april 2012. the likely move to go one step further is several factors including the recent decision to allow a distribution of a daily national newspaper. the country, however, will not be allowed to import arms or any law enforcement equipment that may be used to suppress myanmar's citizens. the meeting is likely to calm on myanmar to consolidate their path to policy. that's the year in which democratic leader aung san suu kyi is aiming to assume myanmar's presidential. -- presidency. let's take a look at the latest market figures.

zlnkts a cargo ship carrying nuclear fill is on it's way from japan to france. it's the first since the accident at the fukushima d

daiichi plant. >> reporter: ships leave port in france every day. but few of them set out under such tight surveillance. one vessel carrying nuclear fuel, known as mox, left at midnight on wednesday headed for japan. people father today protest the delivery. >> france is trying to force japan to reimport the mox in order to force the country to reopen the nuclear plant that was shut down just after fukushima. >> mox is mixed with plutonium that has been extracted from spent nuclear fuel. four power plants in japan news mox but utilities in the country don't have the capacity to produce it. the first commercial plant to make the fuel is currently under construction and is expected to start operating in 2016. in the meantime, they have been

shipping spent fuel abroad to foreign companies that can turn them into mox. among them is areva. it has been waiting to send mox fuel to a power company in central japan. the shipment has been on hold since the 2011 accident in fukushima. the facility that is supposed to use the fuel is currently offline, along with every plant in the country except one. industry regulators are still deciding whether other facilities should be allowed to go back online. aspokes person fsays the utilit hoped to delay the mox delivery.

but areva said it couldn't wait any longer. the recycled fuel is on its way back even though the utility can't use it. on top of that, the japanese government hasn't finalized its nuclear policy. for decades, japan has been trying to set up a complete nuclear fuel cycle, but it's still waiting for a breakthrough. >> translator: japan has been trying to reuse all of its nuclear fuel. but no one has thought beyond that point yet. i believe japan needs to become able to operate a complete nuclear fuel cycle, but it will take a lot of effort to achieve this goal. >> reporter: following the fukushima accident, experts are being split on whether that goal is even attainable. the mox shipment is expected to arrive in japan in two months, but it's unclear when and if it will be used to generate energy. nhk world, tokyo.

hollywood has immortalized oskar schindler for rescuing jews from the nazis in world war ii but fewer people have heard of sugihara, the japanese diplomat risked his livelihood to save an estimated 6,000 jews from the holocaust during the same period. some of them are preserving his memory for younger generations. nhk world's tsuji reports. >> translator: every year at this time, the israeli government holds a holocaust memorial service across the country. this year, in the city of netanya, people pay tribute to a

japanese diplomat. at the service was a 74-year-old who was living in poland at the time. her family was living there at the time. her father obtained transit visas for the family in neighboring country, enabling her to escape abroad. >> my father was very wise and courageous to go and get this for us. otherwise, we would have perished. >> the person who saved her and other jews was sugihara, a diplomat at the japanese consulate in lithuania. he issued visas to people from other countries. this allowed them to travel to japan and escape the nazis. the holocaust memorial museum in jerusalem has preserved some of sugihara's documents. he handwritten visas that saved

7 -- 6,000 lives. the foreign ministry sacked him when he returned to japan, he defied orders of his government that had friendly relations with nazi germany. after the war, sugihara said he had no regrets. >> he saved a lot of jews and was very courageous and really helped the jewish people to escape. >> the holocaust museum has planted a tree in his honor. it stands alongside a tree bearing the name of oskar schindler. after obtaining the visa, she and her family travelled through

russia on the sea of japan. they moved to china and then india. they finally settled inland that is now part of israel. >> without the visa, we wouldn't have survived. there was no family. >> she has 3 children, and 12 grandchildren. the story of sugihara who died nearly 30 years ago, lives through her family. her son duby is specially drawn to sugihara's story. he lived in japan for more than ten years. >> translator: i hope my children remember the story of how our family was saved, and to help without hesitation if someone asked without thinking about what they can gain. >> not many people know the history of sugihara and they

don't know what he did and they don't know what happened to him because of what he did, and it's very important to tell it to more and more and more people. it should be known. >> ruti tells the story of sugihara. she wants people to know the importance of standing up for their beliefs to protect lives regardless of nationality or religion. nhk world, israel. it's time for the weather forecast with rachel ferguson. rachel? >> hi there. we're expecting snow in japan, up to 20 centimeters is possible as a small low is moving across that part of the country. it will get a little cooler across much of japan into the weekend. by next week we'll see those temperatures recovering nicely.

an on going throw of moisture across the south of china is still producing something around 25 to 50 millimeters of rain daily. in some areas, it's about 100 meters. so this ongoing rain is contributing to the threat of land and mudslides. it's generally pretty clear and cold up here. i'll think you these temperatures, beijing falling to 9 degrees. you saw 20 just a few days ago, temperatures will be rebounded by the end of the week. tokyo will be cooling off before getting up to average temperatures next week. now to the americas. let's talk about the severe spring storm slamming the west. a mix of freezing rain that can

be very dangerous, and then we have veer weather and rain to deal with. some portions of illinois and missouri, you have been seeing up to 100 to 130 millimeters of rain. and then the storms from the gulf coast right up to just south of the great lakes there you can expect with damaging winds and large hail, and it's quite a slow moving system as well. this will be your thursday into friday morning. temperature wise, temperatures are coming down behind the cool front ahead of the front. that's going to drop down to the single digits by your friday. so be prepared for that drop. just one degree in denver. so you will see that icy air go down into the plains and the four corners. we're seeing wet and windy

weather here across the british isles. that is going to start winding down for you on friday, and we'll see a change in the clear conditions across the continent. they will be pushing down towards the north of spain. some of them could be a little bit on the severe side. another change that you're probably not going to like is the temperatures. they will be coming back down to your averages for this time of year after enjoying a very warm spell for the last week or so. madrid back down to 18 degrees on friday. that is your average. berlin down to 13 or 14 i should say which is very close to your average as well. i'll leave you now with your extended forecast.

japanese that made a name for themselves in all kinds of fields have been getting a little royal recognition.

they invited 2,000 people to a garden party. they spoke to guests along with the prince and princess. the emperor chatted with one of japan's best known scientists. he won the noble prize last year for his work on stem cells. the emperor also heard about the life of an astronaut. they spent four months speaking about the experiments performed during his mission. that's "newsline" for this our, i'm gene otani in tokyo.

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